Sir F. HALLasked the Under-Secretary of State to the Air Ministry whether he is 429W aware that an announcement was made before the 1st April last that technical officers in the Royal Air Force would be granted technical pay and that this pay was to be according to some system of grading; if he will state what such system was and the rates of pay that were to be granted; whether he is aware that, after the announcement was made, without any further intimation, the original system was abandoned as impracticable and that in September last it was announced that there would be an alteration in the rates of technical pay; if he will state what alterations were then proposed; whether any technical pay has actually been given and, if so, will he state the number of officers to whom it has been granted and upon what basis; and if steps will forthwith be taken to give this pay as originally announced, making it retrospective as and from the date of such announcement, in order that officers who may have been duly qualified, although they may have left the Service, shall obtain the additional pay it was intended that they should receive?
§ Major-General SEELYThe original Regulations for the pay of the technical branch of the Royal Air Force provided a basic rate of pay, according to rank, with the addition of technical pay of either 2s., 4s., 6s. or 8s. a day, varying according to (a) rank and (b) the nature of the technical duties carried out by individual officers. It was found impracticable to grade officers individually for these rates of technical pay, and it was decided in September last to make the rate of technical pay dependent solely on rank. At the same time the different classes of technical duties carrying the right to technical pay were denned. The classification of officers according to these duties is being carried out and will shortly be completed. In the meantime technical pay at the original minimum rate for each rank has been issued, and any balance will be credited to officers as soon as the work of classifying thorn has been completed.